LIDL Food Market
Opened: December 11, 2024
The LIDL in Livingston is FINALLY open! This store, which replaces a long-closed Toys R Us, was first announced way back in the summer of 2022. By late 2022, it looked all but ready to open. So after a very, very long time (with no real explanation for the delay) the store finally opened last week, on Wednesday, December 11. Like the new one in Pelham, it's a great example of how LIDL has refined its execution over the last several years that they've been in the US.
This is now the third store to open under the latest campaign, The Super-Est Market. The first one was in the Bronx at the Bronx Terminal Market, and Pelham was the second. On that Pelham post, I wrote a little about LIDL's ups and downs in the US, but we're definitely on an "up" right now.
The store is located in about 40,000 square feet of a former Toys R Us (another 10,000 square feet or so to the left of the supermarket is up for lease). Part of the parking lot is also soon to be filled with an outparcel. At least for the opening week and weekend, they needed every single parking space on the property. It seems that the store was highly anticipated, especially given the delays, and so far the response seems to be very positive.
And it's a particularly nice LIDL, even though the decor is very simple. It's larger than Pelham, and there's a lot here. We enter to a really nice produce department -- it's still clearly a discount store, but the produce is set up well and looked very nice -- with the bakery on the corner behind it. Cold cuts and prepared foods, along with meat and seafood, take up the rest of the first aisle, with dairy on the back wall and frozen on the right side.
As you can see, the store is spacious but not too big, very organized, and very extensive (for a discount supermarket, of course).
One of the things I've noticed about LIDL's latest design strategy is that the store is generally very neutral in color, but there are some great color pops. The department signage, but even more than that, the promotional signage, is extremely vivid and the combination is quite pleasing.
The large windows across the front of the store are also very nice.
As I mentioned on the Pelham post, I find LIDL much more appealing than ALDI, and I think their execution is much better at a similar price. In Livingston, those comparisons aren't just theoretical -- there's an ALDI in half of a former Pathmark just half a mile east.
It's also notable that we're just a quarter mile from the township of East Hanover, a town of 11,000 people and no supermarkets. (There are plenty of other choices in neighboring towns, and there's both a Target and a Costco, but East Hanover itself doesn't have a supermarket.)
Here's the meat and seafood case, along with the Midl of Lidl department, for nonfoods and seasonal items.
There aren't any service departments at a LIDL; there is an in-store bakery but it's entirely self-service.
Here's a look across the back wall...
The Midl of Lidl was particularly well-stocked here in Livingston because of the approaching holidays, I'm sure.
And the seasonal Favorina Christmas merchandise I mentioned...
Interesting to see that these newer LIDL stores have both the no-name chips (on the left) and name-brand chips (on the right). Notice even that the Lay's chips are stocked normally on shelves, not in their cases the way the storebrand ones are.
This is a very large store for a discount supermarket, but it doesn't feel too big. There's plenty of space but no large open areas that feel cavernous.
Here's a look at frozen foods in the last aisle.
Notice that the promotional signage is much clearer and easier to identify than in the original iteration. Obviously, if you're a gourmet market, you're not doing fire-truck-red signs like this for sales, but it works really well for a discounter.
Opened: December 11, 2024
Owner: Schwarz Group
Previous Tenants: Toys R Us
Cooperative: none
Location: 599 W Mt Pleasant Ave, Livingston, NJ
Photographed: December 12, 2024
LIDL also recently opened in Pelham, New York, and today we're also seeing a new CTown in East Harlem!
I could not be a bigger fan of LIDL! Their transformation over the past few years, and even more specifically the past few months, has been nothing less than astounding. The product selection has skyrocketed and they're doing an amazing job keeping the stores stocked and organized which was a huge issue in the early days. Just this morning, I walked into my LIDL and could not believe how clean and stocked it was. My store has been completely reset with major improvements to the produce dept. My only on-going complaint is that the employees are generally miserable. Not sure if it's entirely a result of management of just the caliber of people my particular LIDL has on staff. I try to be as pleasant as possible and I do appreciate how hard they work at keeping the store going. LIDL is certainly much better staffed than any ALDI I've been too.
ReplyDeleteLove the polished concrete floor here. My LIDL has a tile floor that is not holding up well with the pallet trucks that move about the store.
I wonder if they're going to roll out the "Middle of LIDL" signage to all the stores. I am shocked at how much stuff I buy from those aisles. They have really great stuff. Puts ALDI to shame.
The Christmas treat aisle was fantastic this year! My LIDL is wiped out already. Very unique treats, most of which are made in Germany and Poland. Hardly any soy lecithin to be found in the ingredients which is a huge deal for me. The ingredients overall are much higher quality than US manufactured treats. I noticed several colored products that used natural food coloring instead of chemicals. LIDL has jumped on the bandwagon of using bioengineered ingredients in many of it's baked goods which in unfortunate and a reversal of the early food standards. Oh well. We still have Trader Joe's for no-GMOs. Whole Foods has even flushed their standards down the crapper. I refer to them only as Fraud Foods these days. By Amazon.